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The Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services (the Ministry) received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) for access to records relating to an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police into allegations that the requester had been wrongfully convicted of murder.
The Ministry initially responded by informing the requester that the majority of the responsive record was the subject of another of his access requests which was also under appeal. However, the Ministry subsequently identified 63 additional responsive pages which were not included in the other appeal, and issued a follow-up decision with respect to these pages. The Ministry provided the requester with full access to 44 pages, partial access to another 16 pages, and denied access in full to the remaining three pages. The exemptions claimed by the Ministry as the basis for denying access were sections 13(1), 14(1)(d), 14(2)(a), 19 and 21(1) of the Act. The requester appealed the Ministry's decision.
During the course of mediation, the Ministry issued a second decision letter granting the appellant access to one of the pages to which access had previously been denied (page FI0173). The Ministry also confirmed that one part of the record consisted of an audio cassette tape of a conversation between the investigating police officer and a witness. Access to this tape was denied in its entirety, pursuant to sections 14(1)(d), 19 and 21(1) of the Act, and the Ministry clarified that the only part of the record which was subject to the section 14(1)(d) exemption claim was the audio cassette tape.
Further mediation was not successful, and notice that an inquiry was being conducted to review the Ministry's decision was sent to the Ministry and the appellant. Written representations were received from both parties.
In its representations, the Ministry withdrew its exemption claims under section 14(2)(a), and its section 21(1) claim with respect to page FI0150, but raised section 14(1)(k) of the Act as a new exemption claim for this page.
During the inquiry stage of the appeal, the Ministry agreed to release six pages which had previously been withheld, either in whole or part (pages FI0109, FI0110, FI0112A, FI0114, FI0115 and FI0176). Because page FI0176 was the only page of the record which was exempt under section 13(1), this exemption is no longer at issue in this appeal.
Therefore, the pages of the record which remain at issue in this appeal are pages FI0141-150, FI0152, FI0167 and the audio cassette tape.
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